View full sizeRusty Costanza, The Times-PicayuneAyanna Gabriel, 12, right, looks on as Michael Smith Jr., 8, plays on his iPad at the Iberville public housing complex in New Orleans on Tuesday. At left are Morris Smith Jr. and his father, Morris Smith Sr.

Other Iberville residents feel similarly conflicted. Some young healthy people are thrilled to have a catbird seat for the historic implosion set for Sunday morning. But they also worry about health risks the dust from the implosion could pose to sickly members in their community.

Despite its proximity, the Iberville's 400 households are not included within the state's jagged, sand castle-shaped evacuation zone, which stretches nearly four blocks in some directions but only about one or two blocks toward the Iberville. Those within the evacuation area are being housed in hotels on the state's dime if needed.

In a recent email about the matter, Rouselle wrote: "The only caution we are issuing for Iberville residents are that they stay inside, turn off their air conditioners or any apparatus that would take in air from the outside for 15 minutes before and after the implosion. They should also cover any opening to their home from the outside," he wrote.

Observers say that the state has planned the demolition carefully and that contractors have already stripped the building down to its skeleton. So while buildings of this era usually have asbestos in walls and ceilings and are covered with lead-based paint, those toxins shouldn't be a major part of Sunday's debris cloud.

View full sizeRusty Costanza, The Times-PicayuneMorris Smith Jr., 15, left, and his father, Morris Smith Sr., stand in front of the Iberville public housing complex in New Orleans on Tuesday. The Claiborne Towers building that will be imploded on Sunday is seen in the background.

But a recent study by the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine studied particle clouds created by building implosions and recommended that people who lived near or downwind from an implosion stay indoors with doors and windows closed for at least an hour after the building has fallen.

Looking for information

Iberville residents said on Tuesday that the little they knew about the implosion came from news reports, not from the Housing Authority of New Orleans. "I keep saying, 'When are they going to come tell us something?'" said Lanetter Dorsey, 54, who is in poor health and doesn't feel comfortable staying inside her Iberville apartment during the implosion. "I guess they've decided we need to fend for ourselves," she said.

When contacted Tuesday, HANO officials said that they planned to distribute fliers to Iberville residents on Wednesday. Spokeswoman Lesley Eugene-Thomas said the agency is following state guidance, urging its households to stay indoors and shut off their air conditioners and vents rather than calling for evacuations.

That's a big contrast with staff working in nearby Tulane University buildings, who have been receiving email alerts for weeks. On Sunday, Tulane's facilities staff will turn off air intakes so that they won't suck in dust and will remain on-site until the site is cleared, said Tulane Senior Vice President of Operations Tony Lorino. "They tell us that it will only take a couple of hours for the dust to settle," he said.

But Iberville residents sitting inside apartments within dark-brick buildings could soon become overheated if the dust takes hours to settle.

That concerns resident Morris Smith, 39. "Once it's done, no one can predict where the dust and debris will flow. So it's a little scary," Smith said.

Smith recalled the throat scratchiness that he felt after walking by smaller demolitions after Hurricane Katrina. It's difficult to understand what sort of discomfort a demolition of this magnitude could cause, especially in a community where many are afflicted by asthma, he said.

Respiratory problems

More than 20 percent of Iberville adults and 40 percent of children have asthma, according to a HANO resident survey conducted last year. About 40 percent of the complex's residents are children 17 and younger, according to the same survey.

Sandra Stokes, board of directors for the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, noted that as the crow flies, parts of the Iberville are only about one block from the implosion, and she questioned why the evacuation area wasn't determined by drawing a consistent radius around the area.

Rouselle said in an emailed statement that State Police were using a 600-foot radius for the implosion area, the standard area required by the state's policy for implosions. The evacuation zone was moved farther in some directions to reach the closest street, he said. According to Rouselle's measurements, the closest distance from the hotel to the Iberville was 725 feet, and so the Iberville was not included in the evacuation area.

View full sizeRusty Costanza, The Times-PicayuneA resident walks past an apartment building at the Iberville public housing complex in New Orleans on Tuesday. The Claiborne Towers building, which will be imploded Sunday, is seen at center left. July 17 2012

Christina Stephens, a spokeswoman for the state office handling the demolition, said the evacuation boundaries were based on the expectation of how far dust will travel from the building's footprint. "The heaviest dust is expected to reach about 150 feet from the building, with lighter dust reaching as far as six blocks away," she said.

And while the Iberville is within the six-block "dust zone" radius, Stephens said light dust in the periphery of the affected area should settle "20 to 30 minutes after the implosion." So, she reasoned, the state's warning for residents simply to keep their windows shut and air conditioners turned off during that time frame should be adequate. Residents should have no reason to keep their air conditioners off and windows closed later in the morning as temperatures climb, she said.

'There's no telling'

Still, Dorsey plans to stay at her daughter's, just in case. "I thank God that I have two children who make sure I'm all right," she said.

Rosalie Turner, who said that she's in her 80s, passed by Dorsey's door in the Villere court with a big box from the post office. Behind her, two young granddaughters carried bags of groceries.

Turner said the three of them would likely be at church during the implosion. "But I guess we should plan not to come home afterward," she said.

Her granddaughters, who are visiting from Texas, don't suffer from asthma, she said. But on Tuesday, so much seemed unknown about the implosion and the resulting dust that she felt compelled to stay away, just in case.

Despite all predictions to the contrary, "there's no telling what will actually happen," Turner said, reaching out to put her arm around her granddaughters' shoulders. "And I don't want anything to happen to them," she said.